2nd swarm

Loaded the truck and headed out at 6:30 this morning to catch the swarm before they depart as its suppose to be hot today.  Arrived on site and took a real picture this time.  Went back to the truck and gathered the gear.  The guy said they had been in the tree for a couple of days but that didn't dawn on me until they attacked.  They got me about 7-8 times about the head and neck before I could descend the ladder to safety.  That's the very first time I've been stung catching swarms.  Part of the problem was they were attached to 2 branches and I was having a hard time getting my catch sack under them.
Anyway, I put on my jacket and hood and got them out with no more trouble.  Would have been funny to watch, me swatting like crazy and trying to get off the 10' ladder without falling.

Got home and hastily built a Nuc for the small swarm I caught last night and gathered together odd parts for todays larger swarm. Then spent the rest of the day making new frames for my new hives.       Later                                       
                                                                   Real pics attached.

 

First swarm caught of the year

This evening, just as my wife and I were about to dine out, I got a call from a young couple saying they had bees in their back yard and could I come over.  Much to my wife's chagrin, I said of course, as it was not to far away.  The swarm, (no picture attached because I forgot to save it) was a small one about 8' up a small tree.  For them to swarm so late in the day is unusual.  I drove home, got my gear and went right back.  I set up the ladder, took the unsaved picture, and proceeded to gather them in, all the while the couple were watching in amazement from their living room window.  He came out later and asked, " how could you do that without any protection".  I said they don't sting unless they are pinched, and I did pinch one and got a light sting on the palm.  "I still can't believe it" he said.   Just got another call through Debra, one of the SI bee keepers about a swarm, could I call the guy to arrange catching it.  I did, and am going to get it first thing in the morning.  I am totally not ready for this.  Later

Queens released

This morning, as I was feeding the bees, I lifted the top box from each hive to see if they had released the queens.  The queen from the nasty hive had been released but in the other, a piece of old comb had fallen down onto the queen cage and she had not been released yet, so I opened the cage and let her run in.  She had been with these bees in the cage since they left Georgia so I was not concerned about her being accepted. .  Kind of chilly today so the bees aren't flying much.  In the hive with no loose queen, the bees are just hanging in a ball.  Will check later to see if I can see the queen and see how they are doing.  They should get ramped up now they have a queen.  Both hives seem very docile, as I smoked very lightly and had no problems, probably from the cold weather.  Later

Solar wax collector

Yesterday I found several pieces of HDB (high density board) the neighbors had thrown away so I put them to use by creating a solar collector.  I bought  2 pieces of 10X20 in. glass ($21) and a cake pan ($4) for a total outlay of $25 bucks. 

I built the box slightly wider than the cake pan and about 5 inches longer.  At the upper end I glued a strip of wood for the lip of the pan to rest on about 1\2 in down from the top.  I then placed a stopper (so the pan stayed at the top) for the pan, just high enough to allow a piece of Tupperware (5" sq and 2 in. deep) to sit on.  I then drilled a series of 1/8" holes at the bottom end of the cake pan for the wax/honey to drain through into the collector under the pan end.  For the top, I put 2 grooves into a 3/4 X 1 in. board to fit the glass and cut and fit it just larger than the top, about 1/16+ bigger. I then fit a strip about 2" wide around this to finish the top (hinge-less)  just large enough to snuggly fit ( not to snug) over the box with about a 3/4 in lip.  I then sprayed it black on the inside.  Even though it was only 60 deg. out but sunny, I threw in some smashed comb and honey left over, which I had drained from the dead hives, comb which I had collected and put the lid on.  Later in the day, most of the wax had melted and drained into the collector, along with the honey that was still trapped in the smashed wax.  As the honey was heavier, it settled to the bottom and was easily separated.  The honey I got from this was almost white and utterly delicious, I have no idea where the bees got it as most of my honey is dark amber.

Great cheap do it yourself project that really works.  Later

Bee packages have arrived

Today I took the dogs on the 200+ mile trip to Better Bees in Greenwich, NY to pick up my bees and a few other things that I ordered.  Put them in the back of the truck and came back.  When I got home I saw I had a few straggles that road-out the trip clinging to the sides of the packages.  I was also amazed that there were no dead bees in the bottom of either box (the suppliers keep saying that it isn't unusual to find several hundred bees dead on the bottom of the package), so much the better.  I placed one package in the old nasty hive outside, put in a pollen patty and filled the top feeder.  Then I went over to the other box and began to open it and my thumb slipped down onto the screen and one stung me, just a little sore but that's all.  Went back to the house to wash my hands to remove any pheromone smell and got in my suit just in case and I feel penned in when I'm in the shed with a lot of bee's flying around.  I had given them a large dose of sugar water spray before I dumped them in the hive and not much happened, gave them a pollen patty and put the feeder in the entrance.  Checked them about 2 hrs. later and most of the sugar water is gone already, guess I'll be cooking up some more soon.

Its really good to see bees flying around again, just in time to take advantage of the Russian Olive bloom. 

Checked the bees again late afternoon and found several large dark bees on the ground in front of the hive and one with his wings tore off crawling around.  Looks like robbing from the feral hive already.  Shut down the entrance to give them more protection.  The other hive seems to be doing fine, maybe because its an entrance feeder and not a top feeder inside the hive.  Will have to monitor more closely.  Later


 

Bee call out

Got my first bee call out of the year yesterday, but it was a false alarm.  No bee's wasps or anything.  The woman was quite perplexed as was I as she swore she heard loud bussing when she entered her crawl space.  Maybe the first Cicada's of the year.  We found one not quite ready to pupate putting in flowers in the new garden.  5 days until I pick up the new bee's, can't wait.  Later

Apple trees blooming

Yesterday I took a spring yard work breather and walked back to the apple trees to see how pollination was coming.  Looks like few apples again this year as unfortunately all I found was a single honey bee flitting amongst the blossoms.  Not much today either but the carpenter bees were working so maybe there's hope for some apples if the squirrels don't eat them all again.  A single bee came around when I was cleaning out my hives, but apparently was just looking as he did not come back.

The big maple tree is finally gone, 4 hard months cleaning it up by myself.  Made table slabs from the main trunk and got about a thousand bf. (winter project).  Had the stumps ground down but trying to dig out the roots was a bear.  Put in another flower garden where the maple tree was, with some annuals this time and put a Red-Bud in the center.

Acquired a dozen Heather plants from Michigan Bulb and put them in the ground in the bee garden (my wife doesn't know that all the flower gardens are for the bees).  They were 4" pots so it will take awhile for them to grow.  I also ordered 2 Oak-leaf Hydrangea's, suppose to be great bee plants too. 

Pick up my 2 packages of bees on the 11th, can't wait.  Started building another octagon hive, this one slightly bigger as I'm going to put wider bars on the two ends for more honey storage  I am also going to support the top bar combs with wire supports, have a wire bender coming soon.  The hives will be slightly larger but also shorter by 2" as I found the long combs have a tendency to break when I examine them.  Being shorter and having wire support should do the trick.  Happy summer.  Later